WILLIAM B. WILLIAMS, RADIO PERSONALITY, DIES

Published: August 4, 1986

William B. Williams, the radio personality of four decades who never wavered in his commitment to the old favorites of popular music, died yesterday at Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan after a long illness. He was 62 years old.

A hospital spokesman said that Mr. Williams died of acute anemia and respiratory failure. Associates said he had suffered from a congenital blood disease and was hospitalized several weeks ago for removal of his spleen. Last year, Mr. Williams underwent surgery for cancer of the colon.

Mr. Williams, known to audiences simply as William B., was a longtime favorite among older radio listeners, whose loyalty he credited for his long career. A disk jockey for WNEW-AM for 42 years, Mr. Williams was an advocate of the melodic tunes, called standards, of popular performers such as Frank Sinatra, Perry Como and Lena Horne. He counted these performers among his close friends, and gave Mr. Sinatra the nickname ''Chairman of the Board.''

''He had a melodic sense,'' said Al Rylander, a spokesman for the Friars Club, a theatrical organization of which Mr. Williams was an officer and member. ''He felt instinctively that's what people wanted to hear. He played the records of the people who sang the words you can understand and the music you can listen to. And he stuck to that format.'' 'The Ideal Communicator'

Explaining why he spurned more modern songs, Mr. Williams once said, ''These rock groups today, they may be big for three or four months and have a couple of hit records, but then that's the end.''

Mr. Williams, who for much of three decades opened the show ''Make Believe Ballroom'' with the greeting ''Hello world,'' was known for his silver voice and personable style. The program, which was started in the mid-1930's by the disk jockey Martin Block, was discontinued by the station in 1972 but was revived in 1979.

Mr. Williams counted among his most devoted fans housewives, cabdrivers and traveling salesmen.

''He was the ideal communicator,'' Mr. Rylander said. ''When he spoke into the mike, he made you feel he was directing the conversation at you.''

Born in Babylon, L.I., on Aug. 6, 1923, Mr. Williams, who changed his name from William Breitbard, was the son of a department store owner. After attending Syracuse University, he went to visit a friend at a Newark radio station. ''As luck would have it,'' he once said in an interview, ''the guy who did the all-night show had just been fired for being bombed on the air.''

At that time, Mr. Williams knew nothing about radio, he said, except that ''it sounded like a good way to make a living.'' He auditioned for the job and was hired as a staff announcer. Six weeks later, he was offered a position by WNEW in Manhattan. He remained with the station until his death.

Mr. Williams, called Willie B. by his friends, met Mr. Sinatra at WNEW, according to Mr. Rylander, when the singer was host of a semiweekly radio show in the early days of his career. Mr. Williams dubbed Mr. Sinatra ''Chairman of the Board'' in keeping with the fashion of giving titles to performers, such as Benny Goodman, who was called ''The King of Swing,'' Mr. Rylander said. Active in Charitable Work

Mr. Sinatra credited Mr. Williams with resurrecting his career by persisting in playing his music after it had gone out of fashion. When the Friars Club named Mr. Williams Man of the Year in 1984, Mr. Sinatra was host at the ceremony.

Active in charitable work, Mr. Williams was also the winner of the 1985 Applause Award, an honor bestowed by the Friars Club Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the organization.

''Willie never turned down a benefit in his life,'' Mr. Rylander said.

He is survived by his wife, the former Dottie Mack, who once was host of a radio show in Cincinnati, and his son, Jeffrey, both of Manhattan, and a brother, Rick Roman, of Los Angeles. A funeral service is scheduled at noon tomorrow at the Riverside Memorial Chapel, 76th Street and Amsterdam Avenue.